1. Field of the Related Art
The present disclosure relates to creating a desired texture on a surface of an article or object, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a combination sandblaster and scraper assembly for enabling concurrent or simultaneous abrasive blasting and scraping of the surface of the article or object.
2. Description of the Related Art
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Abrasive blasting, commonly referred to as sandblasting, has been widely utilized in industry as a method for cleaning and deburring objects. Applications of abrasive blasting may include methods to prepare surfaces with attractive finishes or to texturize the finish material of a surface. In other applications, surfaces of articles may require sandblasting to remove scale or debris from a product. In yet another application, sandblasting techniques may be employed in order to enhance the finish of a product surface, for example, to improve paint adhesion of the product surface. For proper adhesion of coatings, it is sometimes preferable to completely clean the exterior surface of a product and in some instances preferably roughen the surface via abrasion or by surface etching.
Abrasive material spray units generally utilize pressurized air flowing along a narrow main passageway formed in a main sprayer body and intersected by a transverse passageway extending to a supply of abrasive material, usually sand, in a supply container. The movement of air in the main passageway creates a negative pressure or similar action at the intersection of the passageways, which draws sand particles from the container into a mixing chamber thereat. The main sprayer body is usually provided with a pistol grip through which the main passageway extends. In some instances, the supply container is supported on a surface separate from the sprayer body and a flexible tube leading from the container is connected to the portion of the sprayer body forming the mixing chamber. In other instances, the supply container is connected directly to and supported by the main sprayer body so that the container with the abrasive material therein is moved about during the spraying operation.
As a result, in operation, sandblasters entrain a hard particulate material, typically fine sand, in a stream of air, which may be directed against a target site to be ablated or abrasively eroded by the particulate material. Thus, the rapidly moving particulate material hits the target site with considerable force and thereby removes surface material, for example, mold, rust, paint, and similar abradable substances.
Turning now to scrapers, the concept of scrapers and more specifically, paint scrapers is old in the art. In general, paint scrapers have a handle with a blade that is held in pressure contact with a surface from which paint is to be removed. Typically, the blade extends at about 90 degrees to the surface to be scraped and a user pulls and pushes the blade over the painted surface to remove the paint. Additionally, a conventional paint scraper generally has an upper cover, a lower cover, a blade securely sandwiched between the upper cover and the lower cover and a bolt extending from the lower cover to the upper cover to secure the engagement between the lower and the upper covers to securely hold the blade. Because the lower cover and the upper cover are engaged with each other by the bolt that is inserted through the center of the lower cover and the upper cover, only the center of the blade is pressed by the covers.
There is a need for an apparatus and method for effectively removing at least previous coatings, deposits, rust and/or scale from surfaces of articles and/or objects, and reducing fatigue of the user. The present disclosure addresses the problems of needing to apply pressure on a paint scraper for an extended period of time without fatiguing the user's arm and also addresses the problem of creating a desired textured surface in a quick and efficient manner via a versatile tool.